Met Ball Fug or Fab: Hailee Steinfeld

This is the ONLY pic of Hailee Steinfeld in the Getty Images offerings from the Met Ball, which makes me think she must have dashed on in there super fast. (In contrast, there are thirty photos of Heidi Klum.) I will start with a kindness and say that she has the prettiest, shiniest hair:

And I love her, and find her completely adorable and charming. But I’m not sure if I love this, wholeheartedly. She generally hits exactly the right balance between looking polished and mature, and looking appropriately young and fresh, but this is veering a bit Disney — I think it would be totally believable if we heard that those appliques were placed on her dress by friendly birds — and it’s slightly nightgown-adjacent to me. I mean, if she were leaning out her bedroom window singing a song to the squirrels, I would be ON BOARD.

I agree, although I have to say that if she is going to veer to one direction, I’d rather her err on the side of childlike. She has plenty of time to sex it up, and it’s so refreshing to see her just being young. I think it’s awesome that she has such a great head on her shoulders.

I really love the shape of this dress and the whatchemy going on in the bodice, but it REALLY isn’t working for me in peach, never mind the embroidery. I think even Hailee could’ve got away with something less of a nightie colour.

I don’t hate this. I think what loses me are the spaghetti straps and the twee bow in front. If this had been strapless and had something different on the waist (not sure what, but definitely not that bow) and it would be a home run. The beading/appliques on the hemline look gorgeous. Maybe is she had put her hair up and lost the necklace (or gone with something different) it would look less twee.

I don’t love the color on her and the spaghetti strapps are … not enough. “Namby-pamby” is the phrase I was kicking around to deescribe them. However, it just fell in the “nothing I would choose, but she looks all right” until you evoked that scene in Cinderella where the mice and birds are sewing the dress. Game over.

She´s a teenager. Let her be one! It is refreshing to see someone dress for their age, not a 17 year old slutting herself up á la Taylor M or older women desperate to “pass” for 21. Come on, let her enjoy her youth! I like it

She is young, pretty and sweet…and I think she looks better than 90% of the other women at this event…she looks effortless and very comfortable and I think she just sparkles. Her and Emily Blunt get my vote for best dressed for simply looking like they didnt try so very hard to be noticed.

Remember Oprah’s movie, Beloved, based on the book by Toni Morrison? Remember the scene where Beloved (played by Thandie Newton) is by a swamp swarmed by ladybugs as butterflies flit by. This dress reminds me of that scene, and, thus creeped me out a bit.

(WARNING: The video link below has some other creepy, disturbing images of the South post-slavery as the book and the film metaphorically recalls oppression)

Well, she’s 16, right? And if she were a normal 16-year-old going to the junior prom, I’d say this was pretty fun and cute and just offbeat enough. But for the Met Ball, it’d be nice to see her in something a little more mature and dramatically designed.

I wore a dress just like this to prom in 1981. When my date came to the door he said, “Are you wearing that?” Was I fashion forward or just fug? I ended up getting really drunk and throwing up in his El Camino. Ha!